Posts Tagged ‘heaven’

“Ask, ‘What do you think hell is?’,” answers Josh Butler, Pastor of Global Outreach at Imago Dei in Portland, OR, because often we would say we don’t believe in that view of hell either. When Christ returns, it won’t necessarily be evident who believes and who does not, rather He will weed out from the […]

“Gnosticism was kind of this idea…that salvation is about God whisking us out of earth and up into heaven,” answers Josh Butler, Pastor of Global Outreach at Imago Dei in Portland, OR, “but the early Church fought tooth and nail against that.” In the modern era, Christians have bought into the storyline that our hope […]

“God is on a mission to get the hell out of earth,” explains Josh Butler, Pastor of Global Outreach at Imago Dei. The destructive power of our sin has torn heaven from earth but God desires to reconcile earth to heaven out of His goodness. “The storyline then becomes a tremendous source of hope.”

“Heaven is where all the scales balance,” says Ken Wytsma, Pastor of Antioch Church in Bend, OR and President of Kilns College. If all we have to look forward to is being buried in the dirt, then living sacrificially and selflessly, pouring our lives out for others seems like a foolish way to live. “Without […]

“Eternal life begins when we come into relationship with God, not when we die,” says Ken Wytsma, President of Kilns College and Pastor of Antioch Church in Bend, OR. N.T. Wright explains how revivalism shaped America’s cultural consciousness with regard to their view of heaven. Over time, America leaned toward a more Greek understanding of […]

“We are confined to the dimensions of this universe…for now,” answers Rick Gerhardt, Biologist and Christian Apologist. God, however, is not. But when explaining infinite concepts like heaven to finite creatures like us, metaphor and symbolism is necessary. This means that explanations are not literal…and can sometimes be confusing. “God is trying to indicate to […]

“The war in heaven is talked about in Revelation chapter 12,” recounts Dr. Gerry Breshears, Professor of Theology at Western Seminary and Co-author with Mark Driscoll of several popular books on doctrine and the church. Revelation indicates that this war led to Satan being cast out of heaven, a triumph that can be seen as […]

“We need to be cautious about the content of all [these] experiences,” states Rick Gerhardt, Biologist and Christian Apologist, “People who are not Christians have also undergone these experiences.” Near-death experiences tend to relate to religious backgrounds and mindsets. The important fact is that the experiences do occur. “We have to take each case on […]

“The problem is that we inform our understanding of heaven through art,” says Ken Wytsma, Pastor of Antioch Church in Bend, OR and President of Kilns College. When we look to art for a picture of heaven, we can begin to think that heaven is an invisible, airy place in the sky. However, the best […]